USA: CLINTON ORDERS SANCTIONS ON INDIA FOR NUCLEAR TESTS

(13 May 1998) English/Nat

President Clinton on Wednesday ordered tough sanctions against India, saying its nuclear tests this week demanded an 'unambiguous response.'

The sanctions includes an end to all U-S assistance to India except humanitarian aid and U-S opposition to lending by international financial institutions to India.

U-S Defence Secretary William Cohen told Congress on Wednesday that the U-S and others should work to encourage neighbours of India not to follow suit with their own nuclear tests.

But India's nuclear tests have ignited questions on Capitol Hill and elsewhere over why U-S intelligence was caught so unaware.

News of a second round of nuclear tests in India provoked anger and dismay around the world on Wednesday.

U-S President Bill Clinton called the new round of tests "a sad and terrible mistake."

In response, he ordered tough sanctions against India, which means an end to U-S aid except for humanitarian purposes.

In Washington, protestors marched outside the Indian Embassy, calling for an end to all nuclear tests there and urging Pakistan not to follow India's lead.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, two Senate Committees held hearings on the matter.

Testifying before an Appropriations Subcommittee, Defence Secretary William Cohen said India's tests set the dangerous stage for a copycat response by other Asian countries.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"There will be a chain reaction and that's the potential of this - a chain reaction of other countries following suit. It's one of the reasons why we have worked, when I was a member of the Senate and the House, worked so hard to try to keep the nuclear genie as far in the bottle as possible as far as other nations participating in developing nuclear weapons."
SUPER CAPTION: William Cohen, U-S Defence Secretary

Fearing just that, the White House has dispatched two top administration officials to Pakistan to calm India's jittery neighbour.

At another hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee, North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms had some words of warning for Pakistan.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"To (Pakistan) Prime Minister (Nawaz) Sharif, I offer my advice, for whatever it's worth. This is the moment of truth for Pakistan as a nation as well. This is the moment of truth indeed. India (meant to say Pakistan) can be a partner to the United States in fighting nuclear proliferation or it can be a schoolyard rival to India and engage in the folly of nuclear weapons testing. And I hope Pakistan will choose to be our partner."
SUPER CAPTION: Jesse Helms, U-S Senator (Republican, North Carolina)

While the ramifications of the testing played out, the U-S intelligence community drew sharp criticism for being caught off guard by India's testing.

Senator Helms expressed dismay over the way India's actions appear to have taken American defence officials totally off guard.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I'm absolutely astonished that the Indian government was able to catch the U-S intelligence capability so sound asleep at the switch, revealing the stark reality that the administration's six year cozying up to India has been a foolhardy and perilous substitute for common sense."
SUPER CAPTION: Jesse Helms, U-S Senator (Republican, North Carolina)

James Woolsey, once director of the Central Intelligence Agency (C-I-A), says his former agency has been on top of India's nuclear testing capability for some time.

But he too questioned whether intelligence officials took the threat of India actually flexing their nuclear muscle too lightly.

SOUNDBITE: (English)



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